


Don't Look Under The Bed

by BombshellKell



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-10
Updated: 2013-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-23 00:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/919708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BombshellKell/pseuds/BombshellKell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt wasn't sure how long he thought he could keep it a secret, but he figured at least longer than this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Look Under The Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Request from tumblr user kochokoi: Newt gets a kaiju skin mite from the black market and tries to keep it as a pet; Hermann finds out.

There was an eerie clicking sound coming from underneath the bed. 

Newt was still asleep, snoring away, and Hermann wondered how he didn’t hear it. He sat up in bed, frowning, and looked over his side of the bed once. Seeing nothing, he leaned over Newt’s sleeping form, knowing that nothing would wake him up. There was nothing on the floor over there, either. But the sound was most definitely coming from under the bed. 

Hermann stretched back, hearing his back crack as he dragged his legs out of bed and stood up, holding onto the bedside table for support. The clicking was getting louder, and now it was accompanied by an even creepier scuttling. Something was moving under there, and he had a sinking feeling he knew what it was. He slowly dropped down to his hands and knees with a groan, ducking his head down until he could see under the bed. 

He was face to face with an insect face, pinschers rubbing together, the clicking sound coming from its claws. Hermann let out a shout and stumbled back, his back against the wall. That, apparently, was enough to wake Newt up, because he started and sat up, looking around. 

“Woah, woah, what the hell?” 

“Newton,” Hermann hissed. “There is something under our bed.” 

“What?” Newt’s eyes widened. “Oh, god. Is it a monster? Is it one of those weird Japanese ghost things with the hair all in her face and her eyes all black? Is it a serial killer?” 

“No, it’s.... some sort of.... insect.... thing.” Hermann pointed. “Just get down here and look.” 

Newt crawled over to the edge of the bed and hung off of the edge of it, peeking underneath. Suddenly, he let out the last thing Hermann expected, though really, he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t expected it in the first place: a laugh. 

Hermann narrowed his eyes. “....Newton, what is under there?” 

“It’s not an thing.” Newt’s voice had heightened, to the sort of variety used on baby animals and infants. He reached down under the bed and pulled out the thing, making Hermann’s lip curl in distaste. It looked like some sort of giant pill bug, but with more legs and a more discernible head; it had about a dozen little legs wiggling around as Newt held it, and seemed to be about the size of a large cat. Hermann stared at both Newt and the bug, his worst fears being confirmed. 

“Newton, tell me you did not keep one of those things.” 

“Um... I could tell you that, but I’d be lying.” Newt let out another little laugh. “You’d be surprised how easy they are to take care of. All you gotta do is give them little baths in ammonia and they can stay alive as long as any dog or cat. They’re actually pretty good pets.” 

Hermann didn’t say anything. He couldn’t think of anything to say that could possibly cover what he thought about the situation, at least nothing that didn’t include a variety of profanities, all of which were of course, beneath him. “...Newton.... Newt....” 

Newt looked innocently over at him, still cradling the thing in his arms like a baby, presumably to make Hermann feel guilty for wanting to get rid of it. Apparently he didn’t know Hermann well enough, then, because there was no way he was going to be guilted into keeping a parasite. 

“No,” he said flatly.

Newt scowled. “But--“ 

“No.” 

“She’s perfectly harmless.” 

“Do you even know if it’s female?” 

“I’m a biologist, Hermann,” Newt said with some amount of disdain. “I think I know how to tell a female kaiju skin parasite from a male. It’s as easy as looking between it’s legs and--“ 

“I’ve heard enough,” Hermann said, standing and brushing himself off before reaching for his cane. “Get that thing out of our bedroom, or I will no longer be sleeping here.” 

Newt glared at him as he left the room, looking down at the skin mite in his arms and tickling her stomach a little, smiling as she wiggled her legs. “Don’t worry,” he said to her. “You’re gonna grow on him, just like I did.” 

\- - - 

Hermann let Newt sleep in the next morning, even though he usually made him wake up at a reasonable hour. He figured their miniature argument the morning before earned him a bit of extra sleep, and also that he would be more likely to get rid of the skin parasite if he was well-rested and in a good mood. Hermann made himself a cup of tea and some toast and sat at the kitchen table, blinking awake and looking out the window, until he heard a familiar scuttling, and a little bug face poking itself up over the opposite side of the table. 

He scowled at it, but it didn’t do anything, merely watched him for the time being. Eventually, Hermann sighed, and shook his head. 

“...I think you’re disgusting,” he said, breaking off a corner of the toast and tossing it across the table, watching the mite scoop it up with its pinschers and eat it. “But Newt likes you. So I suppose I’ll make an effort.” 

The huge bug gave him a look that he thought was thankful. Hermann appreciated that.


End file.
